November 2015

Launch of Atlas 5 OTV3 from Cape Canaveral, Fla. December 2012. Photo: ULA [Via Satellite 11-20-2015] United Launch Alliance (ULA) is kicking off a new program providing free launches to academia for CubeSat missions on the Atlas 5 rocket. The program signals a major commitment to ensuring academic CubeSats, which have ceded space to commercial…

A CNR CKD8G, built by China CNR Corporation , which merged with CSR Corporation Limited to create CRRC in June 2015. Photo: ProfesorFavalli/Wikimedia Commons [Via Satellite 11-20-2015] State-owned China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC), the world’s largest railway transportation supplier, has selected Gilat for satellite connectivity onboard trains. The companies signed a long-term partnership to…

Artist’s rendition of Horizon’s 2. Photo: Orbital ATK [Via Satellite 11-20-2015] Intelsat announced Nov. 19 it has moved the Horizons 2 satellite to a new orbital position at 85 degrees east to launch a new Free-to-Air (FTA) Direct-to-Home (DTH) platform in Thailand. The satellite will support Next Step, a content provider turned platform operator, with…

Artist’s rendition of a Hera Systems satellite. Photo: Hera Systems. [Via Satellite 11-20-2015] Starting with nine satellites and later scaling up to 48, San Jose, Calif.-based Hera Systems revealed its intentions to launch a constellation of high-resolution Earth Observation (EO) satellites starting in October 2016. The company recently completed its Series A round of investment funding,…

[Via Satellite 11-20-2015] Foxcom, a Global Invacom company, has launched a new division called Foxcom DSA to focus on the Defense, Security and Aeronautics (DSA) markets. The division’s offerings include Iridium and GPS repeaters, military radio links, and timing and reference distribution. Foxcom’s capabilities cover 1KHz to 18GHz, and have been deployed around the world…

The Atlantic Council “The Space Race in Business” Panel, Nov. 18 in Washington, D.C. Left to right: Steven Grundman, Atlantic Council; Eric Thoemmes, VP, space and missile defense programs, Lockheed Martin; Clayton Mowry, president, Arianespace; Paul Domorski, CEO, Artel; Jay Gibson, CEO and president, XCOR; and Kay Sears, president, Intelsat General. Photo: Atlantic Council [Via…

From left to right: Michel Azibert, Eutelsat’s deputy CEO and commercial & development director and Richard Thomas, Camusat CEO. Photo: Eutelsat [Via Satellite 11-19-2015] Eutelsat has partnered with telecom infrastructure specialist Camusat to spur on better turnkey connectivity solutions for mobile operators in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using satellite, Eutelsat can deliver coverage of all African territories…

A cell phone tower. Photo: Karl Baron (Flickr) [Via Satellite 11-19-2015] Wireless link optimization specialist XipLink has completed a test with a significant Asian cellular service provider, delivering accelerated voice, data and video traffic exceeding 90 megabits per second (Mbps) to a remote LTE base station over a satellite connection. Jack Waters, CEO of XipLink,…

Connected ship graphic. Photo: Ericsson [Via Satellite 11-19-2015] Inmarsat and Ericsson have signed a strategic maritime agreement to jointly develop services, solutions and applications to drive industry standards for satellite connectivity and application integration in the maritime industry. The partnership is intended to facilitate the sharing of cargo, logistics and vessel operational data to help…

[Via Satellite 11-19-2015] ViaSat and Cobham Satcom have joined forces to offer new product and service offerings to the Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) market. The companies are starting with the release of a collaborative terminal, the Explorer 122, a compact, vehicle-mount, real-time IP satellite terminal designed to complement the Explorer PTT-2 system for mission-critical voice and…